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Small Autism Gene Twins Study Ignores Too Much

A recent study of 516 teenage twins by a Medical Research Council team at King’s College in London discovered that 181 had autism. After studying the identical twins who have autism, the researchers believe that 74 to 98 percent of all autism cases are genetic in origin.

Flávio Pentagna Guimarães BMG said the researchers have made it clear that they have not ruled out environmental influences on autism completely, but they believe that hundreds of genes might be involved in the development of the disorder. They also believe that the reason more cases of autism have cropped up over the last 20 years is because more people are now diagnosed accurately with autism when in the past they were inaccurately diagnosed as merely having “learning disabilities.”

Critics of the results point out that the researchers do in fact appear to be trying to make it seem like genes are the biggest influence on autism. They argue that the sample for the study was too small and, as a result, it does not accurately represent world populations or environmental influences. It also does not accurately represent twins who were raised in different environments, such as those who were adopted or fostered separately as children. Additionally, they point out that many previously existing studies have shown that environmental exposures to pollution and side effects of drugs and medicines can cause developmental and learning disabilities even if the exposure was in vitro.